HOPKINS, S.C. — If you’ve been trying to drive on Leesburg Road today in Hopkins, you’ve probably been smelling gas in the air. The road is still closed down after a natural gas line break this morning.
“Yeah, I can smell it,” Lower Richland resident Brook Letts laughs.
Drivers like Letts are running into cones, set up to block off Leesburg Road because of a natural gas line break.
“I came out on my porch this morning and had a cup of coffee. The first thing I smelled was gas this morning,” Jolene Ayer, who lives nearby, shares. “I wasn't sure. I thought maybe we had some type of gas leak going on. And then my husband came out and he didn't feel like he smelled anything but I smelt it. And I thought that something was leaking somewhere.”
Ayer says since the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) began its road widening project, the area has gotten busier:
“Its usually quiet,” Ayer explains. “This is normally a rural area and since they've had this construction going on, it's been quite busy. People coming through here in and out a lot.”
And now, those drivers are being redirected at the intersection of Leesburg Road and Lester Farms Road. Some like Sherman Benton say it’s not a big inconvenience.
“It’s for good reason,” Benton says. “I don’t have a problem doing it.”
“It's not really that big of a deal, but it is interesting,” Letts adds.
“Accidents do happen and you just have to work with it as best as we can,” Floyd Wright tells me. “I hope everyone who comes through here and they’re trying to keep us safe and I hope they stay safe and not try to just cut through then even hurt there and even hurt the workers.”
Others like Jackie Sawyer and Renee Ford say it’s a headache.
“It's adding more time on my trip because of course everybody's going on the backroad and you have to go slow, it's one way,” Sawyer says. “And you know it's not a very safe road either with all the bumps and everything like when it rains.”
“If you have to take Leesburg Road anywhere, it's a pain in the behind because there's just traffic backed up and you really have to add a lot of time to wherever you're going,” Ford continues.
But for travelers like Luis Ramirez, incidents like this are ultimately worth it if it means widening Leesburg Road from two lanes into four lanes.
“It's really nice that, you know, Leesburg is getting big,” Ramirez smiles. “So yeah, we're kind of excited too.”
In a statement, Dominion Energy says, “At approximately 9:15 a.m., Dominion Energy crews responded to Leesburg Road, where a third-party contractor performing excavation work in the area damaged one of our natural gas lines. Safety is our highest priority. Crews are on-site and will remain until repairs are complete.”
When it comes to that road widening project, SCDOT the 4.5 mile widening project from Patricia Drive to Lower Richland Boulevard will add two travel lanes in each direction and a paved median to Leesburg Road.
“A pedestrian sidewalk will be built along the eastbound side for the full length of the project. As of now, some utility relocations have taken place, a new curb and gutter system has been installed in some areas, and construction of the new Mill Creek bridge has begun,” SCDOT says in a statement. “Completion is expected in late 2025.”
As for the road closure, Dominion Energy tells us that final repairs should be complete within a few hours.